Monday, September 10, 2012

TO THE SICKO SEARCHING FOR DISGUSTING PICTURES STAY AWAY FROM MY BLOG!!!!!

Since my last post I managed to have another unproductive week when it came to art & creativity. There were other things keeping me super busy. Good things that needed to get done. Random things that needed to be finished up. Some things that I had no control over, like Sloan being sick & one ER visit on Friday with no answers about why she's having so much tummy pain. Sloan needed me & I was able to be there for her every day. I didn't have to call into work or try to find a sitter & I am so grateful my husband works as hard as he does so I can stay at home & be here for my kids. Today I went into her school & met with all of her teachers to set up her 504 for the year. I'm very impressed with all of the teachers & grateful that they seem to be interested in her well being. Only into the 3rd week of school & we have already had several calls from some of the staff. Sloan & one of her friends were being bullied. I am very happy that the teachers were quick to act & they were so proud of Sloan & her friend for how they have handled the situation. She's growing up so quickly & we are doing our best to keep up & fill all her needs as a. It's such an awkward time in life but she is finding her way.

We've been spending a lot of time in the garden. Almost every evening we all head out to the garden as a family to pick whatever needs to be harvested. Most of our garden came in hearty & full but there were a few things that struggled. The berries mostly. We don't have the best soil for them but they are slowly making it. Dean has worked hard to get the soil to the right acidity & it's paying off. We've gotten a few strawberries, black berries & raspberries. They are all so yummy. Not enough berries to pick & do anything with but just enough to pick & eat while out in the garden.

The tomatoes have taken over! We won't have to buy any the rest of the summer. They are yummy too. Some a little sweeter than others but nothing yummier than fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Omri & the girls pick them a hand full at a time & munch away. It's not uncommon for them to be too full for dinner because their tummies are too full of tomatoes, lol!

We're getting bowls this full almost every night. I'll be canning like a crazy lady the rest of this week!

Our little apple tree did great this year too! It only produced about 15 apples but they were healthy & sweet & the kids were so excited.

Every year our church sells 20 pound boxes of pears through a church owned farm. You can order as many as you want. They were so yummy last year Dean & I ordered 2 boxes this year! That's 40 pounds of pears!!! There is no way a family of 6 can eat 40 pounds of pears before they would go bad. I knew I wanted to make pear cake. It's one of my favorite. It's more of a breakfast bread. I made 10 loaves & put all but two in the freezer.

Even after making all of that bread I had a ton of pears left. I decided to make pear sauce. It's basically apple sauce but it's made with pears. The kids love it & since I didn't add any sugar it's healthy for them too.

I still had almost a whole box of pears left after making all the other pear recipes so I thought I'd try my had at canning pears. I used the juice from when I made the pear sauce instead of syrup so it's much healthier. The last of the pears were made into pear chips by my sweet friend Jamie. Only a few of the pears had to be thrown away. Next year we might order 1 more box. I'm sure I could find something to make with 60 pounds of pears, lol :)

Dean & our friend Dusty worked on the house all weekend long. Finishing up small projects & tackling some of the bigger tasks on our to do list. They make a great team & I'm so excited about the construction business they are starting together. They are two of the hardest workers I know & remind me of my uncle D who owns a roofing business in Florida. He was always the first on the roof & the last off. Wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty & worked alongside his crew. I always hoped I would marry a man that worked as hard as my uncle D & I'm grateful to say I did.

The first project they tackled was building my new kitchen cabinet. I love this picture. Omri parked himself in the box & watched while they worked. Best seat in the house!

Here it is all finished. It now holds all of our canned goods. Eventually it will have doors but for right now it will stand open. Next step in the kitchen is to blow out the ceiling & have it match the rest of the house. We will keep the skylight but reframe the attic & open it up. It's going to look so much better when it's done. Also on the list is to put in can lights, a lighting fixture over the sink, new sink, new countertops, new appliances, new slate floors & repainting the cabinets. Some of these things will take longer than others but they will all happen.

They also installed the storage cabinet in the back hallway between the garage, laundry room & Sloan's room. It's a high traffic area. This is now a perfect place to store all of our cleaning supplies in the upper shelves, Sloan's medical supplies, bags, & miscellaneous items you need to get to but don't really have a place for. It's deep too. So I'll be able to find a home for a lot of things that have been in boxes out in the garage.

Some of the things Dean & Dusty worked on are harder to notice. Like the little square on the ceiling by the fireplace. Do you see it? Yep, that used to be where a giant square metal box hung down. It was the flu for a wood burning stove. Now it's gone & the ceiling & roof were patched. They also replaced the waterline to the fridge, took down the pool & started fixing our back fence. Dean plans on texturing the living room & the ceilings this week. Then we can paint. I'm super happy about all of this!

Last but not least I had to share the giant shelf I bought at a yard sale last weekend. It is HUGE! It's old & awesome & holds a ton. The top shelf will soon hold all of our photo albums. I need to make more quilts so I can fill up the shelves with quilty goodness. For now it just holds a few of the vintage toys my kids play with & some of my vintage children's book collection. So as you can see I haven't been "making" as much as I would have liked but as I write this I'm realizing I did more than I thought I did this past week. Such a good feeling.